PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Mar 5, 2002
Broptics Technology Inc.
3F, 28, Lane 60, WuenHu St.
NeiHu Dist., 114, Taipei, Taiwan
Broptics announces TempSmart negative thermal expansion ceramic
for fiber Bragg gratings packaging
The incredible shrinking material Zirconium Tungstate ZrW2O8 with CTE
ranges from –9*10-6/℃ to –10*10-6/℃
FREMONT, CA / TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Mar 5, 2002 - Broptics Communications
Corp, the only fiber Bragg gratings manufacture in Taiwan, announces today a new
type of ceramic material with negative thermal expansion (NTE) coefficient. The
coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of this ceramic material well fits the
expansion of specialty fiber used for fiber Bragg gratings, and compensates for the
FBG wavelength drift caused by temperature variation. The TempSmart ceramic
formula is Zirconium Tungstate (ZrW2O8) with in-house patent-pending therapy that
can tune the CTE to meet FBG packaging requirement.
“The temperature instability of fiber Bragg gratings has been known as the intrinsic
problem for optical communication applications. FBG vendors have developed ways
of packaging to compensate for thermal drift. The most used method is by combining
two different CTE materials together in a way that can cancel the expansion in
reversed direction.”, said Dr. John Lin, General Manager of Broptics, “The
TempSmart ceramic approach is a single material approach. By cutting the ceramic to
desired length and shape, the only thing left to do is bonding the fiber on the ceramic
with glue. The NTE behavior of Zirconium Tungstate exactly compensates the
thermal effect of FBG, and the thermally stabilized FBG components can be used for
modern optical communication with confident.”
Zirconium Tungstate has been known as “the incredible shrinking material” by
scientists for few years. Rarely in nature that a material can counter the thermal
expansion behavior. Dimension generally expands as the temperature increases.
Zirconium Tungstate forms a perfect crystallized structure that twists as temperature
raise, and seamlessly shrinks isotropically. The in-house processes and proprietary
therapy developed by Broptics allows fine tuning the CTE of Zirconium Tungstate so
as to match the thermal characteristics of different fibers. This patent-pending
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know-how forms the core to bring Zirconium Tungstate to real world applications.
Current CTE tuning range falls within –9*10-6 /℃ ~ -10*10-6/℃.
“One of the main benefits of using TempSmart ceramic packaging is its compact size
after packaging. Also, it will be easier to pack multiple FBGs on the same ceramic
plate. That will save a lot of cost and space for packaging.”, said Joe Chiu, VP of
Business Development. Broptics will demo TempSmart at OFC, Anaheim, booth
#4496, showing the possibility to pack two FBGs on the same ceramic plate.
The Zirconium Tungstate isotropic crystallized structure makes its CTE very linear
over the operation temperature range. This material can be mixed with other material
to form a new zero-expansion or thermal-resistant composite material. New
applications need to be explored.
Availability
The TempSmart NTE ceramic can be customized to meet the CTE requirement
within its tuning range, and cut into required dimension. Sample is available now for
customer evaluation. Production is scheduled at the end of second quarter, 2002.
Broptics also delivers duo material type mechanical packaging for FBG products.
About Broptics
Broptics is dedicated to fiber gratings and athermal packaging technologies
development. Founded in 2000, Broptics is the only FBG manufacture located in
Taiwan, a well-known high-tech island, famous for its flexibility and cost effective
manufacturing capability. Broptics has introduced 100G and 50G FBG Filter, Gain
Flattening Filter, and Pump Laser Stabilizer in short time. Broptics is aiming to
provide complete FBG solution and become the world FBG supply center. Web info:
http://www.broptics.com
Contact:
Dr. John Lin, General Manager
Tel: +886 2 8751 5933 ext 101
Email: john.lin@broptics.com
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